When Riezel and the others returned to the surface, passing through the safe floor on the 18th Floor, the mysterious magus who had given them the quest to handle the irregular monster outbreak on the 24th Floor appeared.
Upon receiving a full report of the entire incident from Riezel and the Hermes Familia, the magus handed over two keys—one to Riezel and one to Asfi—each key meant to open a gnome’s rental vault.
In many large cities, including Orario, the gnomes had established numerous specialized facilities, and one of them was the rental vault—a secure deposit facility where valuables were stored under constant supervision.
Riezel took his key and went to a rental vault located in the eastern district of Orario.
Using the key, he successfully unlocked a small vault, bringing the quest reward into his possession.
Inside the vault were numerous precious jewels, gold and silver ornaments, and several grimoires, but he bypassed the gold and jewels entirely, focusing instead on the grimoires.
They were heavy books with stone-like covers and textures, intricately carved with elaborate patterns.
"Are these the grimoires they provided?"
Riezel curiously picked one up and examined it closely, noticing faint yet distinct fluctuations of magical energy.
A grimoire was naturally no ordinary book—it was an extremely valuable item.
Only those possessing the development abilities of Mystery and Mage could create such a grimoire, one capable of forcibly manifesting magic.
Yes, this item could compel the magic of someone holding a Falna to awaken and be learned forcibly.
Individuals from the Lower World with a Falna, whether they possessed one magic slot or up to three, inherently had slots capable of learning magic.
Some could awaken these slots, manifest their magic, and learn to use it just as Riezel had, while others could not even make their magic manifest throughout their entire lives, as was the case with Tiona.
A grimoire could force the magic of someone with vacant slots—someone whose magic had yet to awaken—to appear.
Advanced grimoires even had a chance to expand the number of magic slots, turning one-slot holders into two-slot holders, two-slot holders into three-slot holders, increasing each person’s innate capacity for magic use.
Given that, one could easily imagine how precious a grimoire was, and just how high its value must be.
Magic was, after all, every adventurer’s trump card since increasing the number of magic slots or awakening magic directly enhanced personal combat power.
Why were Riveria and Lefiya so exceptional?
One key reason was that they could use more than three types of magic.
Now, Riezel was gradually becoming such a rare individual himself in the eyes of many, emerging as a multi-magic user following after Riveria and Lefiya, which, in turn, angered many gods, who both openly and secretly cursed Loki for having such incredibly exceptional children appear again and again, stirring envy and jealousy that could hardly be contained.
Riezel had even heard from Loki that he had already become an eyesore to the magic country, Altena.
Altena was a country located some distance away from Orario, one that worshiped magic above all else. It was home to numerous mages, magi, and magic swordsmen, and had once boldly proclaimed that in this world, magic represented everything.
Because of this belief, both residents and foreign settlers relied heavily on magic to the point that they practically sustained their daily lives through it.
They claimed that the finest mages and magi resided within their borders, and that their magical technology was the most outstanding in the world.
Consequently, they regarded Orario, which housed many powerful mages, as an eyesore of its own—a sentiment that only intensified after Riveria and Lefiya rose to fame.
As a natural magic race, Riveria, a member of the royal family, and Lefiya, a gifted elf, could wield more than three types of magic, which earned them the aliases of ’Nine Hell’ and ’Thousand Elf’ respectively, with one standing as the strongest mage and the other recognized as her successor.
And the fact that such individuals had not come from Altena, but instead belonged to their so-called ’rival’ Orario, utterly enraged the magic country. Especially since more than half of the country’s residents were naturally magic-bearing elves, it felt like a betrayal that Riveria and her successor, Lefiya, had sided with Orario.
Riezel’s emergence only fueled their hatred further.
As a result, he was blacklisted in Altena—some even claimed that anyone who could either capture him and bring him back to their country or eliminate him would receive a generous reward.
In other words, he had a bounty on his head, which was only natural.
Compared to Lefiya, however, Riezel truly commanded thousands of magic spells.
However, it was undeniable that the reason he could have so many magic spells was all because of Almighty, the memorization magic that allowed him to learn the magic spells of others.
Almighty was the only magic that genuinely belonged to him, while all of his other magic spells were reproduced through it.
Needless to say, Almighty was technically the only magic he truly possessed.
Upon returning to the world of Danmachi, Riezel often wondered whether he should awaken a second or even a third magic, which was why, when he encountered the mysterious magus, he requested a grimoire as his reward.
With only one magic slot, he had no way to awaken a second or third magic through normal means, so to awaken new ones, he had to use grimoires to increase his magic slots, thereby forcibly awakening magic.
Originally, he had considered earning money to buy one, but grimoires were unfortunately not easy to obtain.
First, their price was comparable to First-Class Special Equipment, often astronomical.
Second, they had great value but sadly no market, since they were never circulated in ordinary markets.
Third, creating one required the development abilities Mystery and Mage, meaning that even the most skilled magus could not make a grimoire without them.
Such people were extremely rare, even in Orario or Altena.
As the saying goes, ’rarity determines value.’
For all these reasons, grimoires often sold for more than First-Class Special Equipment.
Riezel had once visited a shop run by a skilled magus recommended by Riveria, who had connections to Altena and occasionally obtained grimoires through special channels.
He had indeed seen a grimoire there, but it was sold via auction, and when Riezel saw it, the price tag had already exceeded nine digits and was still climbing, discouraging anyone from buying it.
In the end, having seen no other grimoires across Orario, he resigned himself and planned to save enough money to buy one later.
"Great. It saves a ton of money and effort."
Feeling the faint magical energy emanating from the grimoire in his hands, Riezel finally smiled as he confirmed that this grimoire was of high quality, at least far superior to the one he had seen at Riveria’s recommended shop.
A grimoire did not guarantee that magic would manifest because its success rate depended on its quality, so the higher the grimoire’s grade, the greater the chance of magic manifesting.
Expanding magic slots required an even higher level of quality, or the grimoire itself would be wasted.
Moreover, whether the user already possessed magic also affected the final success rate.
For someone without any magic, using a grimoire could almost certainly force magic to appear.
For someone with one magic spell, awakening a second was significantly harder.
For someone with two magic spells, awakening a third was even more difficult.
High-grade grimoires significantly increased these success rates, making them increasingly precious, expensive, and difficult to acquire.
In this situation, obtaining several high-grade grimoires was truly a windfall.
Riezel carefully counted and found that there were three grimoires in the vault.
"I only have three chances, huh?"
If he failed to expand his magic slots and awaken magic within these three attempts, he would have to find another way to obtain grimoires.
"Time to give it a try."
Riezel put away the three grimoires and stored all the jewels, gold, and silver inside the Dimensional Magic Cube, then left the rental vault and returned to Twilight Manor.
===
Twilight Manor, Riezel’s Room.
Lighting the magic stone lamp on his desk, Riezel sat down on the bed and spread the three grimoires in front of him.
Truth be told, he felt quite eager.
At first glance, awakening the remaining two magic slots and magic spells might seem insignificant, considering that he could already use thousands.
However, magic in the world of Danmachi was different from that of other worlds—its potential was immense.
Take Almighty—without it, Riezel could not command thousands of magic spells as he did now.
Ais’s Ariel, for instance, had buffs still far superior to other enhancement magic spells Riezel had learned.
There were also magic spells like Finn’s Hell Finegas, capable of overturning ability gaps, and Lefiya’s Elf Ring, which earned her the alias of Thousand Elf.
Needless to say, the world of Danmachi contained many powerful magic spells, far stronger than typical magic spells and often exceptional in effect.
As the original work described, magic was the potential that sprouted through Falna, a realization of the self that had no rules, only infinite divergence, and was heavily influenced by excelia.
Belief was an especially critical element.
What one believed in—whether admiration, hatred, longing, sorrow, worship, oath, or desire—was reflected within oneself, beneath the Falna, laid bare for the mind to see.
In summary, magic in this world could be anything—any force, any miracle.
Weak magic could be very weak, while strong magic could be extraordinary—everything depended on the individual.
With this anticipation, Riezel picked up one of the grimoires and opened it.
The first thing that met his eyes was line after line of tiny text, which was neither a common language nor a sacred text, but a group of complex and strange symbols with no common form.
—Ask, and it will answer; seek, and it will reveal; desire, and watch; the mirror of truth for false ugliness is prepared here.
Faintly, Riezel seemed to perceive these strange symbols forming a sentence.
—What is magic to you?
He felt as if the text were questioning him directly.
He naturally recalled all the magic spells he had seen so far.
Some were powerful enough to destroy the world.
Some had bizarre, astonishing effects.
Some benefited themselves.
Some were useless to others.
Some saved lives.
Some ravaged everything.
Some were benevolent.
Some were malevolent.
In short, the varieties of magic were countless.
However, the question was—what was magic to him?
"It can be everything."
Naturally, Riezel answered.
—What kind of thing is magic to you?
Suddenly, the words seemed to change into another, ambiguous question.
"It can also be nothing."
Riezel responded naturally and instantly, and then the questions continued.
—What do you seek from magic?
"Nothing. I just think it can become my power."
—What do you hope for from magic?
"I hope it brings me some surprises."
—Does that mean magic is not essential to you?
"Of course not. It’s just a part of my power."
—But you want to have it?
"Yes."
—You are selfish.
Seeing the last sentence, Riezel did not feel angry but smiled instead.
"I’ve always been selfish."
Finally, the text on the grimoire condensed into a single sentence.
—This is you.
As the last sentence appeared and then vanished, Riezel suddenly felt drowsy, and before long, he lost consciousness, sinking into a deep sleep.
===
[A bonus Chapter for every 500 Power Stones.]
[Support me and read next Chapters early at: /VALRRR]